Power to the People: The Thirty-ninth Hunger Games

Chapter 3

Gizmo Torres POV

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night...

I messed up on that one. I'd spent the last two weeks in a holding cell after a Peacekeeper saw my blueprints peeking out of my pocket. I wasn't even planning a rebellion or anything. I was just noting how easy it would be to build a bomb out of commonplace things in Three, should one want to. That's how I got stuck in a six-by-six cell with nothing for company but bread, water, and the sound of dropping platforms.

Another one was about to drop as I watched out the window. It wasn't every day someone was executed. Rebellion was rare in Three- rare everywhere, I supposed. It wasn't often someone was bold enough to do something that could get them killed. But when they were, it always did. I couldn't see the man's face as he walked to the scaffolding, but his entire demeanor was defeated. It wasn't dignified so much as resigned. He didn't kick when the bottom fell out. I couldn't tell whether he died quickly or just didn't care.

My parents were probably more worried than I was. I'd been through all this before and knew the Capitol had bigger worries than a brat with some scribbles on a piece of paper. I hadn't intended to get caught, but I'd picked a good time to do so. The Reaping was tomorrow. I might have gotten more than two weeks in the cooler if they hadn't more or less had to let me out for that.

The Peacekeepers would be coming soon to escort me to the Reaping. I ate my scraps of bread and drank my water before they could come. If anything good came of this, it was that my family saved a serving of food for two weeks. We weren't poor, but every little bit helped, even with my father gone half the time on "business trips" that always seemed to take place at the home of some pretty woman.

Most of the Peacekeepers must have been busy maintaining order at the Reaping. When two came to get me, I recognized one from the execution. They all looked the same, of course, but this one was so tall he barely fit in the room. I didn't give them any trouble on the way out. Soon I'd be back with my family. I should have been more scared of the Reaping, but there were so many eligible children, and many of them took tesserae. The odds were in my favor.

Moddi Pex POV

"Nothing will happen, right?" Tella asked me as we stood in line waiting to get pricked.

"No, they wouldn't pick us. There are so many names," I said. We were pressed against each other like we could hide from the Reaping and our names in the bowl.

"I only took two tesserae," Tella said. She looked at the others and tried to guess who had taken more.

"Some people don't take any," I said. Tella's eyes went wide and she started to breathe faster.

"Why would you say that? You think it'll be me?" she asked.

"No! I don't know why I said it! I just didn't think," I said. I always messed up when I tried to talk to people. Three was full of geniuses... and then there was me. It was too late to undo the damage, and I started to cry along with Tella. She ran away after her finger was pricked and joined the other seventeen-year-olds, leaving me alone.

It's okay. They won't pick you, I told myself as I waited through the speech. Most of the girls around me were silent, but one girl was wailing loud enough for everyone to hear. I shuddered and scrunched my eyes shut. If I just didn't think about it and didn't look, it would be over soon and I wouldn't die. I heard Bubbles start to talk and clenched my fists.

"Moddi Pex!" I heard. My eyes flew open and I gasped. I couldn't move or even think. I was going to die. I'd seen it happen over and over. Someone was going to kill me, or I'd die by myself, alone in the Arena. I wouldn't be here anymore. I'd be dead.

The moment passed, and I searched out my brother in the crowd. He was looking back at me and crying. I started to cry too, though I'd hardly stopped since Tella left. When a Peacekeeper came to shoo me onto the stage, I tried to grab on to him for comfort. He shoved me off and I almost fell as I reached the top step. Bubbles took my hand to announce me and I didn't want to let go. I wanted her to stay with me and keep me safe. She had to shake me off so the Peacekeepers could take me backstage.

Nobody knew what to say. I tried to keep talking to my family, but the Peacekeepers dragged them away. When Tella came, she said I needed a token. Nobody had thought to bring anything, since we never let ourselves think it might be me. She took a red clip out of her hair and gave it to me. I clutched it after she left, when I was all alone. Soon I'd be buried with it.

I've been trying to make my writing longer, but I realized that for Reapings, the most important thing is establishing personality, so they don't have to be so long.